


EAD Offerings 2018

by AuroraNova



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-16
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2019-03-19 07:47:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13700064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuroraNova/pseuds/AuroraNova
Summary: I've just learned that Evil Author Day is a thing, and can't resist posting some snippets and orphaned fics of my own. May or may not ever be finished, so read at your own risk.





	1. In which Jack's retirement does not go as planned

Jack had it all planned out. He gave the Air Force, and more specifically the Stargate Program, eleven years that he’d intended to spend in what was already a well-earned retirement. So he figured that, once the program went public, he’d _really_ earned his retirement. And after five months in the limelight, he and Daniel were both content to retire to the cabin. Jack fished and puttered around, doing little repairs that had needed doing for some time. (And putting up an electric fence in the woods, just in case. He was really sick of the press and figured they were better off safe than sorry.) Daniel started writing what promised to be one of many books. Their second week at the cabin, before Jack had finished the fence, a dog of uncertain parentage showed up and never left. Daniel named him Cairo, which was just about the weirdest dog name ever, but it meant he’d bonded with the mutt so Jack wasn’t inclined to quibble over the name. There were hardly any people around the cabin, and in the nearest town they’d known Jack for years; they stubbornly refused to give anyone directions to the cabin.

It was a good life. Jack had always known he’d be happy with it. He was more surprised that Daniel was, but it turned out that Daniel hated being a celebrity. “I get more questions about you, Sam and Teal’c than archaeology,” he’d complained. Jack pretended to be insulted, but he knew what Daniel meant.

So everything was working out just exactly as Jack had planned. Which, in hindsight, should’ve been his first clue.

Daniel had insisted on (very expensive) high-speed internet for one computer. The other one he used for writing and it didn’t go online, so it couldn’t be hacked into. Jack had little use for the internet, other than emails. Emails were good. Teal’c’s came through reliably every Thursday, because that was when the routine transmissions to and from the Free Jaffa were processed at SGC. Carter’s were mostly excitement over her work at Area 51. She really liked being in charge out there. Cassie’s were glimpses of what Jack could only assume were a fairly normal life, for a college senior. He and Hammond exchanged the occasional email about the joys of retirement.

But Daniel was keeping an eye on how people were reacting to the change in everything they knew. Jack figured he’d done his job by protecting said people, and that was that. Of course Daniel disagreed. So he provided what should’ve been the second clue: “Jack, there’s a response to this article that says you should be president.”

He’d laughed that off and forgotten about it until a call from Carter a couple of months later. “Carter!” he’d said, always happy to talk to one of the old team. “How’s life in the desert?”

“It’s great, sir.”

“Ah-ah-ah, what did I tell you? Re-ti-ered.”

“I mean, it’s great.” Somehow, after all those years they couldn’t seem to fit into ‘Jack’ and ‘Sam.’ But he really didn’t want to hear ‘sir’ anymore. Mostly because it now reminded him of bureaucrats, politicians, and assorted other Pentagon-y things that he’d prefer to leave behind. “Have you watched the news lately?”

“Nope.”

“There’s a grassroots campaign to write you in during the presidential election.”

“Me? President?” That was just too absurd for words. One: he was retired. Fishing. Living with Daniel. Sometimes taking a nap in the afternoon because he had years of lost sleep to catch up on. In short, he was done saving the country, the world, and the universe. Two: he hated politics and politicians. Three: what kind of idiots would vote for a man when they didn’t know what he stood for?

He asked the last one aloud. Daniel, who’d gone to Google, helpfully supplied, “The kind of idiots who figure that if you’ve saved the world and survived the Pentagon, and are highly regarded by alien allies, you’ll be a better president than most of the morons running.”

“Damn.”

Carter was far too smart to make any further remarks, and instead she told him about how she was thinking of getting a cat.

When the problem didn’t seem to go away in a couple of weeks, Jack sat down and wrote a short statement saying that he appreciated people’s confidence, but he wasn’t a politician and he just wanted to retire peacefully. Daniel rewrote a lot of it, making it less blunt and twice as long. Jack emailed this to Walter, let SGC release it, and went back to teaching Cairo to fetch.

Cassie called the next day. “So, I’m gonna get to come visit you guys at the White House, right?”

“I thought I made it pretty clear I don’t want to be in the White House.” He’d checked CNN just to make sure the release came out, which of course it had.

“I quote,” she began, “‘Of course Jack O’Neill is right. He isn’t a politician. But he is a leader who has proven himself over and over. That’s what we need right now: a leader, not a politician.’ Hey, I’ll vote for you.”

“Don’t you dare,” he growled.

“Have you _seen_ the other candidates?”

Okay, that was true. Why couldn’t Hayes run for re-election? It was just a little heart murmur. Surely something could be done. Maybe he could get Carter to go to the White House with one of those Goa’uld healing doohickeys. Better yet… “What about Hammond? He was always better at bureaucracy than I was anyway.”

“ _You_ are the planetary hero, Jack.” She cleared her throat. “‘Others have pointed out that having O’Neill as president could only increase America’s standing in the world, no small consideration due to the geopolitical shifts caused by the revelations of the Stargate Program.’”

“Daniel,” he called out, “whaddaya say we move offworld?”

“People will still vote for you,” warned Cassie.

This was not good. He’d earned his retirement, dammit!

The next week, Jack figured he’d solved the problem. He and Daniel had driven into town to stock up on groceries, get new books at the library, and pick up the mail. Daniel’s latest shipment of gourmet coffee had arrived, to his delight.

Jack may have retired, but his sharp observational skills hadn’t. “Paparazzi at four o’clock,” he muttered. “Does he really think he’s fooling anyone?” A horde of Jaffa in full battle armor could be stealthier.

Then inspiration struck. Brilliant, deviant inspiration. “Daniel?”

“Yes?”

“You don’t have any objections to making eyes outside the post office, do you?”

Daniel’s eyes widened, and he got an evil grin. “No, I can’t say that I do.” As soon as the clerk handed over his coffee, he muttered a quick thanks and rushed outside, where he took time to ogle, very unsubtly. They walked off holding hands.

Yeah, Jack hadn’t thought there’d be any objections. He and Daniel had been waiting to publicly claim each other for _years_.

Jack was mighty pleased with himself. They finally got their claims staked. The eyeing led to wildly hot sex, once they took a circuitous escape route home. And he figured outing himself would end any talk of him as president.

A few hours later, he headed over to cnn.com to see how things were going in that department. First things first. The picture of them ogling was actually pretty hot, so he printed it out. Then he scrolled down to read the article.

And two paragraphs in made a strangled, gasping noise. “Jack?” asked Daniel, concerned.

He could only wave in horror at the computer screen. Okay, he’d been expecting the delight from all the LGBT groups. But this… no way had he seen this coming.

_While some people are uncomfortable learning that the two lauded heroes are apparently a gay couple, others think it is good news indeed. “Of course you want your heroes to be happy,” said Alicia Farnsworth, head of the grassroots O’Neill for President Campaign. “Moreover, this shows that decades in the military haven’t blinded Jack O’Neill to the complexities of human life that can’t be decided in rules and regulations. Now, more than ever, we need a leader who can understand flexibility.”_

“Hmm,” said Daniel. “I have to agree. I like it when you’re flexible. It opens up so many interesting possibilities.”

“Daniel!”

“Maybe we should order yoga DVDs. Think of what it would do for our sex life.”

“Hey! There’s nothing wrong with…” he stopped when he realized he was letting Daniel get him sidetracked. “Oh, for cryin’ out loud. I do not want to be president. End of story.”  

He seemed to have only managed to make the situation worse, so far, so Jack spent the next few days doing nothing about it. Instead, he focused on proving to Daniel just how good their sex life already was. Sure, the remark had been a joke, but Daniel was younger, and Jack conceded he had a bit of an ego… anyway, Daniel finally put two and two together and promised that it was just a joke, really, he loved their sex life.

 


	2. Make It Rain

Daniel was confident he’d regained all of his pre-Ascension memories, and he’d even remembered a few fleeting glimpses of life as an Ascended being. None of this helped him figure out what was wrong with Sam. She was clearly hurt and doing her best not to show it, but Daniel knew her too well to be fooled.

In case he was missing something, he checked with Jack and Teal’c, who couldn’t think of any reason why she’d be upset with him. Finally Daniel had enough. He wanted his life back – all of it. This had taken some work, and even an awkward talk with Jack about how they’d let their friendship go off the rails. Now he just had to figure out the problem with Sam.

He found her tinkering with a naquadria generator in her lab. “Hi Sam.”

“Hi Daniel.”

Sitting on the nearest stool, he asked, “What did I do?”

She looked disarmed, then guilty, and finally defiant. “Nothing.”

“I remember everything now. Including how to tell when you’re lying.” For instance, the way her chin jutted out was a dead giveaway.

Sam said nothing, so he waited. Badgering her would get him nowhere, and leaving would let her think she got away without talking, so Daniel simply remained on the stool and waited.

Ten minutes later she said, “It’s stupid.”

“It’s eating you up.”

Another two minutes passed before she spoke quietly. “The colonel and Teal’c both said you were there when they needed you.”

“I don’t really remember. I know they’re right, but that’s all.”

Sam wouldn’t look at him. “You weren’t there for me.”

Daniel knew this wasn’t true. As with Jack and Teal’c, he couldn't remember the situations very well, but he knew he’d been there for his friends, and he blurted out, “I made it rain,” knowing it had happened only as he said the words.

Suddenly Sam threw herself at him in a hug. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t have doubted you. I would have died without your rain, Daniel, and it never even occurred to me that you were behind it, but I was so quick to doubt you…”

“Don’t beat yourself up. I’m not even sure what happened, but it’s okay. We don’t have a blueprint for dealing with any of these experiences.”

“I just assumed… well, the colonel and Teal’c saw you. I mean, the colonel didn’t really want to talk about it, and he only mentioned it after Teal’c swore he heard you suggesting we go to Yu… but I should’ve known you wouldn’t abandon me.”

This conversation would be much easier if Daniel actually remembered the events in question. He could only guess that, scientist she was, Sam hadn’t needed moral support from him. She’d probably have written it off as a hallucination anyway. Instead, he’d given her what she truly needed.

“Want to tell me what happened?” he asked. “I don’t remember much from being Ascended. Glimpses here and there, something random certainties, like knowing I made it rain.”

“Doesn’t that drive you crazy?”

“I’m trying not to let it,” he admitted. “I remember my life here, and that’s more important. I mostly pretend I was in a coma or something. If I try to remember being Ascended, I’ll lose myself, and then what’s the point of coming back?”

“Okay,” said Sam. “I’ll tell you the story of how your rain saved my life.”


	3. In which the team becomes exiles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back when the SG Five Things LiveJournal challenges were going, there was one for Five Ways SG-1 Became Exiles. I only came up with one, which has been collecting digital dust for seven (seven! where has the time gone?) years now.

SG-1 had once again captured a Goa’uld mothership, and Jack was determined to hang on to this one. In retrospect, perhaps he should’ve specified that he wanted to hang onto it _and_ keep his commission.

That bastard Kinsey had gotten himself elected as President, and he was after Teal’c. He had covered just about all of his bases, too: nice neat orders, NID operatives, CIA operatives, all spouting stuff about national security, planetary security, and an enemy combatant possibly in as a deep-cover mole.

The plan had been to help Teal’c escape to the mothership, since there was no way to get him out through the gate. Jack knew that he’d be going with Teal’c as soon as they worked the plan out. Teal’c needed his help to make it to the mothership, and helping his friend escape was career suicide. Since he didn’t have much to tie him to Earth other than his career, Jack wasn’t too sorry. Mostly, he’d miss Daniel and Carter.

Daniel, of course, figured out what they were planning. He proved vital in distracting the security detail assigned to the mothership, and from that moment on he could never go back.

Unfortunately, they’d zatted the security detail before learning that Sam was inside the mothership. She was supposed to be at home resting her broken ankle, but couldn’t wait to examine the mothership. So she had the main engines offline when Teal’c, Jack, and Daniel stormed in, and since she wouldn’t be the one to thwart the escape she had no choice but to quickly get the engines running again, which meant she couldn’t return either.

They entered hyperspace knowing they could never go back. Jack was the one who broke the introspective mood. “Well, we got to keep this mothership.”


	4. In which Teal'c is confused by humans

Jack was keeping his promise to show Teal’c Earth. The steakhouse had been a big hit, as had the movie theater. The Aerosmith concert had not, and in retrospect wasn’t one of Jack’s better ideas. Teal’c was fascinated by the driving tour of Colorado Springs, though when they arrived at Jack’s house he was confounded to learn that colonels weren’t assigned household staff.

Now Jack had a new idea. Dropping across from Teal’c in the mess, he said, “I’ve got tickets to an Avalanche game Sunday. Wanna come?”

He was getting better at reading Teal’c’s subtle expressions, and this one was less subtle than normal. Definitely alarm, maybe a touch of consternation. “An avalanche is not a matter of frivolity.”

Ah. The confusion was understandable. “Avalanche is the name of the hockey team,” Jack explained. “A sport. You know, recreation?”

“Like football?”

“Much better than football, but yeah, they’re both sports.”

Teal’c considered this. “I accept.”

“Great. I’ll pick you up out front at 1300 Sunday.”

Teal’c nodded and then, apropos of nothing, announced, “There is something wrong with channel 27 on my television.”

“Oh? What’s that?” Jack asked. He knew Teal’c had been using TV to learn about Earth, maybe a little bit too much because he seemed to think fiction was an honest reflection of reality. While hiking back to the gate from their most recent mission, SG-1 had spent a while discussing this. Specifically, that the number of crime procedurals on TV didn’t necessarily reflect actual murder rates, as Teal’c assumed.

Somehow, Jack’s career had brought him to the point of explaining to an alien that _Law & Order _was not a documentary, immediately followed by defining ‘documentary.’ He should start writing this stuff down. If the program ever went public, he’d have a hell of an autobiography.

“It is incomprehensible,” explained Teal’c.

“Wait, channel 27? That’s the Spanish channel.” Once in a while Jack watched it for practice, or at least he had during his retirement when he had free time. Now, not so much.

“What is ‘Spanish?’”

“Another language.”

At the moment Teal’c relied on the gate translation system and/or Daniel, but he was diligently studying English and Daniel had pronounced him an excellent student, which wasn’t a surprise because the Jaffa seemed like the type who’d work as hard as necessary to accomplish his goals.

Teal’c raised an eyebrow. “English is not the language of the Tau’ri?”

“It’s _a_ language, not _the_ language. We’ve got lots of them.”

Jack had never seen this expression on Teal’c before, so he guessed the Goa’uld and Jaffa stuck to one language.

“How many?” asked Teal’c.

“Not really sure. You’d have to ask Daniel. There are dozens with enough speakers to be considered common.” By Jack’s reasoning, anyway; Daniel might disagree. “Didn’t you know Daniel speaks a bunch of languages?”

“He informed me that the language descended from Goa’uld is considered deceased on your world.”

“Ah, and you thought all his languages were dead. Nope. English is one of the bigger languages. Spanish is another big one, hence channel 27.”  


	5. In which the team is relocated

DAY ONE

Sam was intently taking rock samples, pleased beyond measure to find naquadah-rich ore just lying around on the surface. Since neither the MALP or UAV had shown any signs of habitation, Daniel had offered to collect the soil samples so she could focus on the rocks.

Jack and Teal’c were doing their usual thing: Jack was hanging around Daniel, on alert, while Teal’c protected Sam. Daniel used to think the two of them were paranoid, but four and a half years of gate travel had taught him that they were better safe than sorry.

“O’Neill,” said Teal’c in his warning voice.

Daniel looked up to see Jack gripping his P-90, finger hovering over the trigger. “I don’t have eyes.”

“Nor do I.”

By this time both Daniel and Sam had abandoned their samples and taken up their own weapons. Daniel had gotten used to that too, although he still didn’t like it. He had taken Jack’s advice on killing in defense to heart. _The ones who think about it too much and second-guess themselves either get themselves killed or go crazy. The ones who don’t care are the really dangerous ones, and you don’t want to turn your back on them. The rest of us just accept it and figure the guys we’re shooting at do too.  
_

So he held his Beretta ready, pointed at the tree line, and waited. After a tense moment, he heard someone walking loudly.

“I know you’re around here somewhere.” The voice was so childish that Daniel had to resist his natural instinct to lower the gun immediately. It could be a trick.

Or not. A small child, clearly looking for something or someone, was walking around the edge of the forest. “Come on, Siva, we… oh!”

Daniel set his gun down. “It’s okay. We’re not going to hurt you.”

This time, they could clearly hear two children shrieking and running back into the woods.

“Carter?” asked Jack, “Wasn’t this planet supposed to be uninhabited?”

“Yes sir.”

“And yet we just scared off inhabitants.”

“Perhaps they possess technology similar to that of the Nox,” suggested Teal’c.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this. Pack it up, kids.”

Sam was clearly unhappy, but the situation had changed enough that it made sense to report back, and possibly ask for another UAV.

Twenty minutes later they were back at the gate, Daniel had dialed Earth, and Jack was at the MALP, contacting SGC.

“Sir!” said Sam.

Jack spun around. Daniel had been scanning the landscape opposite Sam, so he too turned.

Standing there in plain sight was a tall man with what looked like a remote control. “I am truly sorry,” he said, not sounding it in the least, “but nobody must know of the existence of this colony.”

“O-kay.” Jack drew out the word. “If it’s that important, we’ll just be going.”

“That is not possible.” It turned out that the device in the man’s hand _was_ a remote, because when he pressed it a shimmering field surrounded them and the MALP. “You cannot be allowed to return to where you came from with this information.”

Teal’c poked the force field and promptly pulled his arm back. That couldn’t be good. Daniel’s head started to hurt.

“We won’t tell anyone. Promise. We’ll even lock these coordinates out of our dialing computer.”

“That is insufficient. You must be relocated.”

The pain in his head increased, and suddenly everything began to sway. Suddenly Daniel realized they’d been drugged, probably through the air.

He hit the ground and everything went black.

* * *

 

DAY TWO

Jack’s head ached, he was stiff, and when he opened his eyes he didn’t recognize the ceiling. It could only mean one thing: he’d been captured. Again. He thought for a few seconds before remembering the discussion at the stargate. At least he’d gotten the MALP transmitting, so Hammond would know what happened. Of course, that meant that the chances of rescue were slim to none. Crap.

“Daniel? Carter? Teal’c?” he called out while sitting up.

“We are all here, O’Neill.”

Daniel and Carter were still slumped on the floor, but obviously breathing. Of course Teal’c was the first one to regain consciousness. Junior was helpful like that. “Any idea where we are?”

“No.”

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

“We were informed of our impending relocation and then succumbed to what was presumably an airborne sedative.”

“Yeah, that’s all I’ve got too.” While Teal’c confirmed his memory, Jack had taken an inventory of what he still had. That turned out to be nothing besides his uniform, boots, cap, and tags. “Damn, they even found the knife on my ankle.”

“We have been thoroughly searched,” said Teal’c.

“I hate it when they take my glasses,” muttered Daniel sleepily.

“I hate it when they take _us_ ,” retorted Jack. “Whoever ‘they’ are this time.”

“That is not your concern,” came a feminine voice from behind Jack’s ear. He moved aside and found what had to be a speaker. “And your primitive corrective lenses are no longer required. We have fixed your vision. It will trouble you no more.”

“Oh goody,” said Jack, “considerate kidnappers. I was getting so tired of the same old melodramatic Goa’uld act.”

“What you call kidnapping, we call self-defense. If you have encountered the Goa’uld, you understand our desire for privacy.”

A common enemy was always a good bond, so he suggested, “Maybe we could sit down and trade stories about how nasty the Goa’uld are.”

“And yet you travel with a Jaffa. A First Prime, no less.”

“I no longer serve the false gods,” Teal’c informed their kidnapper.

“It does not matter to us. You could compromise our colony. Therefore, you will be relocated. Kiraina is a pleasant planet. You will be welcomed, and you will live out your lives without interference from the Goa’uld.”

“About that,” Jack said. “We’re trying to make sure the Goa’uld can’t take over our planet. That’d be hard to do that from your little prison utopia.”

“We regret this. It was not our intention to reveal ourselves to you unless your presence became permanent. However, what has been done cannot be undone.”

Jack was more than a little annoyed that this was happening because their captors couldn’t keep track of their kids. “So, because we saw a couple of kids, you’re shipping us off somewhere?”

“It is unavoidable.”

“I don’t think we have the same dictionary,” he growled.

“This is not up for discussion.”

Carter groaned, obviously coming around, but Jack remained focused on his attempts to secure their release.

Daniel apparently decided to go the polite route. “I appreciate the eye surgery, but this isn’t necessary. We’re not going to tell anyone about you.”

“I believe that you believe your words, but that alone is not enough. This is a humane option.”

“Not for Teal’c,” pointed out Daniel. “It’s a death sentence once his symbiote matures.”

“We had not considered that,” said their captor. Jack was willing to work with whatever they could get as a negotiating point. “No matter. The problem is easily solved. We will simply regenerate his immune system.”

These people would make great allies, Jack thought, if they could stop being so paranoid. That was his last thought before once again slipping into unconsciousness.

* * *

 

DAY THREE

Sam woke up to Colonel O’Neill saying, “So to recap, we’re a threat to their colony, so they took us prisoner, fixed Daniel’s eyesight, got rid of Junior and gave Teal’c his immune system back, and now we’re in the middle of a field.”

“Major Carter,” said Teal’c. “We appear to have arrived at our destination.”

She opened her eyes and blinked at the bright sun. “They returned our equipment.” Her pack held her computer – not a very powerful one, but it had a solar battery and she was glad to have it.

“Minus the weapons,” added the colonel. “I got my knife back, but no guns, no staff weapon.” He was supremely unhappy about being separated from his firearm, as always.

“I hope this corrective eye surgery is permanent,” muttered Daniel, still sounding drowsy.

“There’s someone coming,” noted the colonel.

A trio of women were running towards them. “Good day and we bid you welcome to Kiraina,” they greeted. “This is the land of the rescued.”

“Rescued?” asked Daniel.

“Indeed. Our first settlers expected to drown in the fearsome storm that arose on their journey to the New World. Instead they found themselves in this blessed place. So have others through the generations. We have not had new arrivals since my grandfather’s time.”

“We’re not planning to stick around,” the colonel told them. “Actually, if you’ll just point us in the direction of the stargate, we’ll be off.”

“What is this?”

“Chaapa’ai?” tried Daniel. “Ah, a large ring?”

One of the women said, “There is a legend that a great stone circle disappeared several generations ago.”

“Disappeared?” asked Daniel with a frown.

Another woman nodded. “One minute it was there, and the next it was gone.”

“That is so not what I wanted to hear,” said the colonel.

Sam listened while the women escorted them to a village, but only with half her mind. Daniel would get all the history and culture of Kiraina. She was busy taking stock of the situation technologically, looking for ways they might get home.

The prospects were disheartening. One of the women mentioned that there was a city to the north, but even still Sam didn’t see much of anything that would be of great help. The most advanced thing she saw was a train, which really wasn’t going to help them get back to Earth. And she really wished she had her star charts, because it occurred to her that she didn’t even know where they were in relation to Earth.

That bothered her more than anything.

* * *

 

DAY FOUR

It turned out that the Kirainans kept a guest house for people who just appeared out of nowhere. Daniel was already talking with them, trying to figure out how much they knew about the mysterious captors who’d dumped SG-1 on their planet. Jack was with him and their tour guides, Bethany and Ovie. The town was small, and the tour was over by lunchtime. So the four of them were having a picnic.

Teal’c had stayed behind in the guest house with Carter, who was just going to bed when Jack and Daniel set out for the day. The four of them had all spent a couple of hours looking at the stars, trying to see something familiar. Carter had then stayed up all night doing math and making charts. So far, she hadn’t managed any definite results. Jack had already found someone to loan them a couple of telescopes, at least.

Jack was far from being ready to give up, but even he had to admit that going home was a long shot. SG-1 was good with long shots, though, and he figured it could be worse. Kiraina seemed like a nice enough place, and clearly getting home was going to take a while, if it was possible. There were worse places to be stuck. He was still fervently clinging to the hope that it was temporary, despite what their hosts insisted.

Apparently the ancestors of the Kirainans had been headed to Boston from London, sometime in the 1600s (Jack had missed the exact date because he was busy taking note of what appeared to be some kind of telegraph station), and instead had ended up across the galaxy. He missed several minutes of history while confirming that it was, in fact, basically the same as a telegraph station. He was grateful, though, that the Kirainans spoke English. It wasn’t quite the same English, and there were some different words for native plants and things, but all in all it made his life easier.

It seemed that ever since the first settlers had set up camp, newcomers just appeared every now and again. Unfortunately, the Kirainans didn’t know a thing about how or why, and there was no discernable pattern. There was absolutely nothing that would help SG-1 get back home.

Of course, the missing stargate was a big problem. Jack would’ve bet a lot that it had been taken by whoever dropped them off on Kiraina, so they could keep their precious colony a secret.

“Any mysterious crashed spaceships?” he asked suddenly. Carter could fix almost anything, so if they could find a crashed ship she could probably get it running and have them heading back to Earth sooner rather than later.

Bethany and Ovie looked at him like he was a little nuts. “No.”

Damn.

* * *

 

DAY EIGHTEEN

Jack had decided to go hike the small mountain that stood to the northeast of the city, which would serve as a vantage point. Daniel joined him in case he could see anything useful. No doubt Carter and Teal’c saw through this rather flimsy excuse to have time alone with each other, but they graciously said nothing. It was a relief to spend time with Daniel; they hadn’t been alone together since their abduction. And they found a reasonably dense grove of evergreens halfway up the mountain which afforded them enough privacy for mutual blowjobs. That was a relief too.

It was easy to spot New London, which Ovie said was the largest city on Kiraina. Or at least, on this continent. It seemed the Kirainans ancestors, having been rescued from a watery grave, decided that God had saved them and brought them to this place, and therefore this was where God wanted them. Evidently most Kirainans thought this was where God wanted them to stay forever. Only a few had ever tried sailing out to sea, and according to Ovie, those who made it back to shore insisted there was no other land to be found.

* * *

 

DAY TWENTY-SEVEN

Sam was ashamed of it, but sometimes she hated two of her teammates. It wasn’t their fault, but they could be happy on Kiraina, and she couldn’t. She wondered if Teal’c felt the same way.

The colonel could be happy on Kiraina because it was a peaceful planet with decent fishing and Daniel was with him.

Daniel could be happy on Kiraina because it was a peaceful planet, he was heading up a search for the site of the original colony, and he had the colonel.

Sam threw herself into projects, and there were plenty, but they weren’t enough. Kiraina was a hundred years behind Earth even in the most advanced areas. The kinds of things that she was setting out to build were what she’d always taken for granted while she worked on what was really cutting-edge. It frustrated her to no end. And she couldn’t stand the idea of never seeing Cassie, Janet, her dad, Mark, or the kids again.

Teal’c conceded that as he was free, there were worse fates. But he longed to see Rya’c and, even though his marriage seemed strained, Drey’auc. He wanted to be fighting the false gods that oppressed his people.

Colonel O’Neill and Daniel wanted to go home, of course, but they didn’t have anyone but each other, they didn’t need more to be happy than was on Kiraina, and sometimes instead of hating them Sam was jealous.

She hadn’t begrudged them their relationship for some months now. She’d wanted to, when they first got together, but Daniel was so happy that Sam couldn’t find it in her to hold on to her own unrealistic fantasies for more than a couple of weeks. And they trusted her and Teal’c enough to say that they were together; the colonel had even asked her to tell him if she thought he showed undue favoritism. No, it wasn’t the relationship which bothered her so much as the fact that they didn’t seem half as miserable on Kiraina as she was.

Even Teal’c shared another thing with the colonel and Daniel: he could accept circumstances. None of them were giving up, but they knew that it would take a miracle to get home. Sam knew that she’d be railing at them for accepting the inevitable long before she did, because they were better at making peace with what life handed them.

They hadn’t given up on getting home, but had been informed that they were expected to build their own home now so the guest house would be ready for any new arrivals. Each of them was entitled to a small land allotment. When Daniel gently suggested that he and Colonel O’Neill might build a house for the two of them, Sam snapped.

“So you’re just giving up?” she’d said, her voice frigid. “Finding your own domestic paradise in this fucking backwater?”

Then she’d stormed out, slamming the door behind her. She walked towards the river, kicking small rocks all the way there. Some ten minutes after she sat down on the bank, Teal’c sat next to her. She wondered how he’d convinced Daniel to stay behind.

“O’Neill and Daniel Jackson will not engage in intimate relations so long as we are under the same roof,” he stated, as if she hadn’t noticed the two of them going off to who knew where. “This they do out of respect for us. We must show them the same respect, Major Carter.”

She threw a pebble in the river. “I can’t give up, Teal’c.”

“Nobody is asking you to give up. Nor have we given up.”

“It seems like it.”

“You were not yet awake when Daniel Jackson explained his hopes for discovering the original site of this colony.”

“Oh?” Sam was still trying to work out where they were; she’d narrowed the area but not by nearly enough to suit her. Her late nights meant she was almost always the last one to wake up.

“He believes it is the most likely method of obtaining advanced technology.”

She hadn’t thought of that, and felt slightly guilty. “That’s a good idea.”

“O’Neill has made a great nuisance of himself to the locals with his constant inquiries. He has found the local fisherman most willing to speak with him.”

“So all that fishing…”

“Is also intelligence gathering,” he finished, generously failing to point out that Sam would’ve known that if she hadn’t been absorbed in her own pity party.

“Building houses seems so permanent.”

“The Kirainans have protocols for their hospitality. Offending them would be unwise. And it is reasonable for O’Neill and Daniel Jackson to desire privacy.”

“I know. I just don’t like the idea of staying.”

“Nor do I, Major Carter.”

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes before Teal’c spoke again. “I am not accustomed to living alone. If we were to combine our land allotments and share a residence, I would find that agreeable. We would, of course, have individual rooms.”

Sam figured that if he was still willing to share a house with her after talking her down from a first-rate bitch-fest, she was lucky to have such a friend.


End file.
